Those persons who, attributing themselves to the representation of Venezuela, negotiate assets of the country located abroad or within the national territory, their assets will be confiscated.
This provision is contained in the Law for the Protection of Assets, Rights and Interests of the Republic and its Entities Abroad, sanctioned by the National Assembly last week. Its publication in the Official Gazette is expected.
Article 13 of the aforementioned law establishes criminal sanctions for those who “usurping or attributing to themselves the representation of the Republic or its entities, participate in any way in actions, negotiations, offers, agreements, commitments or acts of administration, alienation or disposition of any asset , right or interest of Venezuela or its entities located abroad or in the national territory”.
That same norm indicates that the persons involved in these acts “will be subject to the domain extinction procedure.” The aforementioned mechanism implies the confiscation of assets, through a trial where the investigated person must prove the legitimacy of the properties he owns when the Public Ministry suspects that they were acquired with not very holy money. But in the event that he cannot prove it, the judge will declare the extinction of the domain of that or those assets and will award them to the State, according to the Domain Forfeiture Organic Law.
The Law for the Protection of Assets also contemplates penalties of 15 to 20 years in prison for those who participate directly or indirectly in negotiations or agreements on
any asset of Venezuela, settled inside or outside the territory, without having the legitimate representation of the country.
That same sentence will be applied to those who execute or collaborate in the execution of acts by means of which the ignorance of the public powers of the State is sought with the purpose of simulating the celebration of legal acts by means of which they affect or intend to affect assets of Venezuela. . Such conduct will be considered “as illicit activities of organized crime”, says article 13.
One of the two final provisions of the law declares “inexistent and without legal effect the fraudulent figures used to usurp or pretend to usurp the representation of the Republic or its entities.”
